Bill of the House of Representatives relaxing arms restrictions

The bill passed mainly along the lines of the party, 231-198, with six Democrats who support it. Fourteen Republicans opposed the legislation, the first bill related to firearms that Congress voted since the massacres in Las Vegas and Texas earlier this year.

Republicans argued that the Second Amendment rights of Americans to carry weapons should not end when they cross state lines.

"The Bill of Rights is not a philosophical exercise," the Republican representative of Georgia, Doug Collins, who personally had a concealed carry permit for what was described as reasons for self-defense. "I do not think that right should be undermined simply because I travel to another state."

The Democrats angrily denounced the legislation, known as "hidden reciprocity".

Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat, called the bill "a dishonorable distribution for powerful lobbyists and gun makers," and said the initials of the "GOP" party should mean "guns over people."

The NRA had lobbied fiercely for its approval.

"This vote marks a turning point for Second Amendment rights," said NRA executive director for legislative action Chris Cox. "The Hidden Transportation Reciprocity Act is the culmination of a 30-year movement that recognizes the right of all law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and their loved ones, even when crossing state lines."

North Carolina Rep. R. Richard Hudson, the author of the bill, told a story on the floor of the House about a Pennsylvania woman with no criminal record who had a concealed carry permit for her gun, which He was not recognized when he traveled to New Jersey, and then he was imprisoned.

"Are you serious? We have to make sure it never happens again," Hudson said. He compared hidden transport permits to marriage licenses or divorce decrees and driver's licenses, which are recognized in other states.

Rep. Connecticut Democrat Elizabeth Esty, who represents Newtown, where nearly five years ago elementary school children and six teachers were killed in a mass shooting, called the bill "an outrage and an insult to families" of those killed by violence navy.

Wednesday's vote marked the first time since Newtown that the House adopted significant arms legislation, something that several Democrats raised, citing recent mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas without any action on proposals related to those incidents.

Many Democrats were also outraged that the bill was merged with two other measures wi bipartisan support. One would fill holes in the National Criminal Crime Verification System (NCIS) that stood out after a mass shooting at a Texas church last month, in which the gunman, a former Air Force member, was able to buy weapons even though he had a criminal record that the military did not report to the database.

The other would direct the Office of Justice Statistics to study all firearms-related crimes and inform Congress in six months about how many weapons involved with "fire reserves", accessories that may allow semi-automatic weapons weapons shoot at a similar automatic rate. The shooter responsible for killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others who attended a concert in Las Vegas in October used potholes to direct large quantities of ammunition over the crowd, and members of both parties have called for its ban.

Hastings predicted the measure "does not go anywhere" in the Senate, where Republicans control the chamber but would need support from eight Democrats to avoid an obstruction.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, the second Republican leader of the Senate, said Monday that merging the gun bills complicated the way forward in the Senate and suggested separating the background check solution. He has a bipartisan bill on that subject with Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy.

"I support both invoices, but I recognize that if you combine them, it makes it much more difficult to pass the consensus law that is the solution to the NICS project," Cornyn said. "And I think it's important enough so that we can handle them sequentially, it would be my advice."